Taricha Mating Ball

Wow! Very nice! I would love to find some of those sierra newts. I thought they were supposed to be a subspecies of T. granulosa? The female at the end is laying eggs in groups, like T. torosa, are they actually a subspecies of T. torosa then? Maybe I am mistaken, I really don't know that much about these newts.

Thanks for sharing! -Seth
 
Cool video.I've been to Yosemite but not during mating season.These are very cool newts and are my favorite of the Taricha family.
 
That's a gorgeous bit of film, I wish it was longer I could watch it all day! :).
 
T. sierrae are their own species. I think they used to be a subspecies.
 
That is an awesome video, thanks for sharing! I've seen our coastal T. torosa do the same thing (should be any day now!). My dad has stories of finding "basketball sized" newt balls when he was a kid.

This page has some more great T. sierrae videos, they have some beautiful larvae!

http://www.californiaherps.com/salamanders/pages/t.t.sierrae.html
 
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Hmm, I thought that T. sierrae was the ones that lived in Idaho. Man I am all mixed up. But now I think I got it. Sierra newts are only in California, and then there is a small population of introduced rough skinned newts in Idaho/Montana.
For some reason I got them mixed up, my bad :eek:

On a side note, how can one differentiate between T. sierrae and T. torosa?
 
Seth -

T. sierrae occur in the Sierra mountains and foothills and T. torosa live in the coast ranges from Marin county south. There is a 150 mile wide valley that separates these two mountain ranges, there ranges do not really overlap except for a very small area in the south-eastern range of T. torosa. You would not confuse one for the other since they do not occur in the same areas. They look pretty much the same but T. sierrae is a bit "redder" than torosa, but this of course varies a lot.

Most of your questions in this thread could be answered by a search of any of these animals' latin names on your favorite search engine.
 
I would love to be able to see something like this in my tank. Do you think this would be healthy for the female in question? Perhaps it's too stressful to keep several males with one female?
 
erik3333 said:
I would love to be able to see something like this in my tank. Do you think this would be healthy for the female in question? Perhaps it's too stressful to keep several males with one female?
Click to expand...

In a tank environment it would probably be a bad idea. Constant amplexus/being chased by males would definitely be stressful. In the wild most of the females I find during mating season are underneath logs or undercut banks near breeding ponds/creeks. I don't find females in water unless they are actively amplexing or laying eggs. Female Taricha (of all species) seem pretty eager to leave water once they've finished up their business; in a tank this could become an issue.
 
I am not sure of this, but I don't think its only one female and several males. I think its several of both sexes.

I would have less males in a tank than females, as the males are aggressive breeders. I have three females and two males in the same tank.

I don't know if actual mating balls have been achieved in captivity? Maybe. But not that I have seen/heard.
I think that the females are the main problem with captive breeding this species ( just my opinion ). They don't seem to want to breed, whereas the males will amplex everything ( intake filter tubes, fish, other species! ). So I think that if wanted to accomplish this you would have to either have a basement that fluctuates with the season or have the tank outside. So that the females might feel more "wild" and be enticed to breed more easily. Just my thoughts.

I don't know weather or not it is unhealthy for the female, but as long as she can get air I don't think it would be unhealthy.

Hope this helps Erik! -Seth
 
Hi,
I've seen smaller versions of this with my granulosa. In my experience the females need a chance to leave the water. Mine live fully aquatic, but at the start of the mating season (it's around late september in my tank) the females leave the water for a few weeks to avoid the males amplexus. It's quite funny to see the females sitting on the land area (it's just a stone of about 10cm*20cm) surrounded by the love-crazed males waiting for them to enter the water. They will reenter the water at about late november and the first eggs are laid around christmas time. I think it's only stress for the females if they have no chance to hide away from the males. I use the time the females stay on land to fatten them up a little bit with some extra earthworms and waxworms.
Greetz
Fabian
 

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You have more males than females, Fabian? I'd love to see a mating ball.
 
In the wild, and I think it's been posted here if you search, males are so eager to mate that there could be a dead female inside the mating ball, or not even a female. It's very stressful for the female who can't get away. It can be deadly.
 
erik3333 said:
You have more males than females, Fabian? I'd love to see a mating ball.
Click to expand...

Hi Erih,
I have them in a group of 3,3. I've never seen more than one female in those mini mating-balls. It's more like one male is amplexing a female and the other tries to get it away and to get the female for himself.
 
That is really cool! Thanks for sharing that around. The water is amazingly clear, and those are some feisty little newts!
 
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